Werewolf
by Krissyy
Summary: Sirius, James, & Peter begin to figure out the startling truth about their fellow Marauder.
1. Chapter 1

Sirius Black was the only one still in the Gryffindor common room, due to the fact that it was well after midnight. He sat slumped in one of the red armchairs, his head leaning on his hand. A large, heavy book was positioned on his lap, and his gray eyes, drifting shut and partly covered by a tuft of hair, were scanning its text. Suddenly those eyes snapped open wider and he sat up, a startled look on his face.

"Oh… my… God." He jumped out of the chair, heaving the book with him, and raced up the nearby staircase to his dormitory.

"James! Peter! Wake up, wake up, wake up!" Sirius stopped at his best friend, James's bed, and shook the boy inside.

"Sirius!" exclaimed James, sitting up with a gasp. "What the hell is _wrong_ with you? It's-it's…" He grabbed his glasses from a bedside table and glanced at the clock there. "Three in the morning!"

"It doesn't matter!" said Sirius wildly. "It's Remus – his mom isn't sick!"

James scratched the side of his face. "So… that's good, I guess, but why'd you have to wake me up for it?" Peter came scuttling over from across the room to see what the commotion was about.

"Because," continued Sirius. "His mom isn't sick. Neither was his uncle. His cousin never got married. None of that ever happened."

James shook his head. "I have no idea what you're going on about. I'm going back to bed." He started to lie down again, but Sirius grabbed his shoulder.

"This is important."

"_What?_ What is important?"

Sirius took a deep breath. "Remus is a werewolf."

There was a moment of stunned silence. Then James started laughing, and Peter followed suit.

"No- No, guys, I'm serious!" cried Sirius, so determined that he didn't even bother to make his usual serious Sirius joke.

James eyed his friend's face, which for once was not at all comical. "Yeah, nice try, Sir. Can we go back to bed now?"

"No, you can't! Hear me out. I honestly think you should listen to me right now."

James sighed and looked over at Peter, who was watching the conversation intently. "Fine, whatever, say what you want."

Sirius nodded. "Remus… he leaves all the time to go back home. But I don't think he really goes home. Have you noticed that it's once a month that he leaves? Once a month, _during the full moon_."

James squinted as if thinking hard. "It's not… it's not always during the full moon. How would you know that for sure?"

"I… Check your lunar chart. It was a full moon yesterday, when he left. And last time it was, too. I don't know the dates for the times before then, but just trust me on this."

"Trust you?" barked James. "You're telling me one of my best friends is a werewolf with barely any solid proof, and you want me to just trust you?"

"Yeah, I do!" Sirius retorted. "Because… because what if I'm right?"

A second blanket of silence covered the room as the three boys thought about that very question. Then-

"Well, we could always ask him," suggested Peter.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus returned the following day. His hair, the color of milk chocolate, was unkempt, with straggly bangs falling in front of his eyes. Under those eyes were gray half moons. The ring and pinky fingers of his left hand were in splints, a minor result of the full moon two days ago. He wore an old brown coat over his robes. There was a patch on one shoulder and the sleeves fell past his hands. He thought it was quite clever to wear it when he arrived back, to imply that he had just been out in the cold weather, although he had really been snugly warm inside the hospital wing.

He climbed through the portrait hole and glanced around the Gryffindor common room, quickly locating his three friends. Sirius, Peter, and James were gathered around a table, their heads together. As he headed over, Remus wondered vaguely what they were talking about.

"Hey, guys," he said.

The boys looked rather startled as they looked up, but Remus must have only imagined that.

"Hullo, Rem," said James as they all stood up. "How are ya?"

"I'm fine."

"And your mum?" asked Peter. "How is she?"

Peter, James, and Sirius stood side by side now, facing Remus. They all had odd looks about them, as if their casual smiles were fake.

"Oh, she's good, too," replied Remus weakly, nodding, hating the lies. "Yes, feeling, er, much better now." He raised a hand to brush his bangs out of his eyes – the hand with the two broken fingers.

Sirius frowned. "What's with your hand, mate?"

"Oh, this?" Remus brought the hand in front of him and flexed the usable fingers. "Broke two of my fingers. Slammed them in a door at home. It was real painful. Fine now, though." He hoped this didn't sound as if he'd rehearsed it. Which he had.

Sirius nodded.

There was a moment of silence then that drove Remus crazy. He wanted his friends to stop acting weird and to forget that he had ever left like they normally did. Why were they being so silent and strange now? Surely they couldn't have found out…

After maybe half a minute of quiet, though it felt infinitely longer, Sirius spoke. "Remus, can we ask you something?"

Beads of sweat appeared on Remus's forehead. _Surely _they couldn't have found out. "S-Sure."

"Well, we were talking and-and thinking," said Sirius, not looking his friend directly in the eyes. "And we, well, we wanted to know… I suppose you could say we _need_ to know… Are you-" He struggled. "Remus, are you a _werewolf_?" The last word was spoken as a whisper due to the fact that they were still, of course, in the crowded common room.

Then Remus's and Sirius's eyes locked onto each other, and Remus's world came crashing down. He felt as though Sirius had punched him in the stomach several thousand times, instead of simply uttering a few sentences.

Though his throat felt extraordinarily dry, he somehow managed to speak. "I guess I should have known you guys would figure it out eventually," he said in a very soft voice.

Peter's eyes widened. "So you are? You really, truly are, Remus?"

Remus kept his head down, staring at his shoes so his friends wouldn't see how his eyes were glistening, and gave a single nod. He tugged at the sleeve of his jacket and took a few steps back. "I guess I'll go pack now," he said weakly.

"What are you talking about?" asked James.

"I've got to leave now-now that you guys know. Nobody will want me here anymore."

"What do you think we're gonna do, go blabbing it to everybody?" scoffed James.

"I guess not," Remus mumbled. "But still, you guys know."

"So?" said Sirius.

Remus blinked. "So… doesn't that change your opinion of me at all? Make you think I'm weird and crazy and dangerous? Doesn't make you hate me?" His voice cracked on the last two words.

"No way," said James.

"Not a bit," said Peter.

"'Course not," said Sirius.

Remus was staring at his shoes again, not exactly appearing convinced.

Sirius put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Rem, I wouldn't care if you were a fire-breathing dragon. Well, yes, maybe I would… But that's not the point. We'll still all be friends forever, no matter what."

"Really?" Remus looked up.

"Really," Sirius said convincingly.

Remus wiped his eyes on his extra-long sleeves. "You gotta keep it a secret, though."

"Can do. And you'll have to tell us _all_ about it…"


End file.
